Feb. 23, 2010

An Indiana Daily Student Publication

HOW DO YOU START A BAND? PAGE 6

Is vinyl dead?

Page 19

WHY DID WE LEARN TO PLAY THE RECORDER? PAGE 10

Can we all be musicians?

Page 11

WHY DOES PANDORA THINK YOU LIKE NICKELBACK? PAGE 22

Can I play piano while you study? Page 9 DO ORCHESTRA CONDUCTORS REALLY MATTER? PAGE 12

IN CASE YOU HAVEN’T NOTICED, IT’S ALL ABOUT

MUSIC. We tried to wrap the whole issue up in this guy.

He’s getting sore.

We cooked up what your mother couldn’t. Dig in.

W W W. I D S N E W S . CO M / I N S I D E

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March

26, 27 8 pm p

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NEW PRODUCTION

(The Swallow)

by Giacomo Puccini

Conductor: David Effron | Stage Director: Vincent Liotta isano Set & Costume Designers: Bill Forrester and Linda Pisano

$Q $PHULFDQ (YHQLQJ March

Spring Ballet

March

26, 27 8 pm 27 2 pm Opera

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Serenade | Rubies | Rodeo

by Leonard Bernstein

April

9, 10, 16, 17 8 pm

Conductor: Rob Fisher Stage Director/Choreographer: Joshua Bergasse Set & Costume Designer: C. David Higgins

MAC Box Office (812) 855-7433 | 101 N. Jordan Ave.

music.indiana.edu/operaballet

ADDITIONAL JACOBS SCHOOL OF MUSIC SPRING E VENTS Sunday 2/28, 8pm, Auer Concert Hall

Monday 3/08, 8pm, Musical Arts Center

Sat & Sun 3/27 & 28, 10am, Ford-Crawford Hall

BAROQUE ORCHESTRA

JAZZ ENSEMBLE

Stanley Ritchie, Conductor

Brent Wallarab, Director

GUITAR FESTIVAL AND COMPETITION

Monday 3/01, 8pm, Musical Arts Center

Tuesday 3/09, 7pm, Auer Concert Hall

JAZZ ENSEMBLES

NEW MUSIC ENSEMBLE

Monday 3/29, 8pm, Musical Arts Center

Jeremy Allen, Director

David Dzubay, Director

David N. Baker, Director

Tuesday 3/02, 8:30pm, Ford-Crawford Hall

Tuesday 3/09, 8:30pm, Ford-Crawford Hall

JAZZ COMBO CONCERT

JAZZ COMBO CONCERT

Tuesday 3/30, 8pm, Musical Arts Center

Pat Harbison, Director

Pat Harbison, Director

Jeffrey D. Gershman and Paul W. Popiel, Conductors

Wednesday 3/03, 8pm, Musical Arts Center

Wednesday 3/10, 7pm, Recital Hall

PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

BAROQUE ORCHESTRA

Tuesday 3/30, 8:30pm, Ford-Crawford Hall

Arthur Fagen, Conductor

Stanley Ritchie, Conductor

Pat Harbison, Director

Monday 3/08, 7pm, Auer Concert Hall

Wednesday 3/10, 8pm, Musical Arts Center

PERCUSSION ENSEMBLE

SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Wednesday 3/31, 8pm, Musical Arts Center

John Tafoya, Director; Kevin Bobo, Co-Director

Cliff Colnot, Conductor

JAZZ ENSEMBLES SYMPHONIC BAND/CONCERT BAND JAZZ COMBO CONCERT PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA David Effron, Conductor

The Singing Hoosiers March

27 8 pm

IU Auditorium

Visit music.indiana.edu/events for updates and additional information about upcoming events.

2 VOLUME 4, ISSUE 3

Choir

60th Anniversary Spring Concert

Director: Michael Schwartzkopf Including a Tribute to Eric Kunzel and Al Cobine

Living Music music.indiana.edu/events

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VOLUME 4, ISSUE 3 | TABLE OF CONTENTS | FEB. 23, 2010

Inside sent out a Google survey through a Facebook group link. We asked how, where, and why you listen to music. We asked about your favorite songs and what you think ruins music today, if anything. A total of 306 students responded.

Are you smarter than a fourthgrader? Take the recorder quiz.

Also, meet the guitarist who doesn’t read music.

Check in with the Marching Hundred in the offseason, learn how one student organized his own concert for a cause, and read about a Bloomington band’s worst album cover of all time.

SE

REC

LE

ON IDSNEWS.COM/INSIDE

YC

THE RECORDER QUIZ

PLEA

The Music Issue.

THE MUSIC ISSUE SURVEY (LOOK FOR THIS LOGO)

DEPARTMENTS VOL. 4, ISSUE 3 www.idsnews.com/inside

CONFESSIONS

EDITOR’S NOTE We are not music gurus.

But music is an important part of our lives. Even if we aren’t the experts, we tried to showcase those who do know something.

Inside listened to Bloomington bands, sat outside a music practice room for 12 hours, and even rode along with a guy who plays his guitar for bus drivers.

We all might not agree on the best song to play at a party, but we can agree that some of our favorite moments are wrapped up in song.

Turn the tables with DJ Phenom. Shift your eyes 9 inches to the right, and he will tell you what makes him spin.

Page 5

INSIDE MAGAZINE

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF CJ Lotz ART DIRECTOR Larry Buchanan PHOTO EDITOR Zach Hetrick WEB EDITOR Jackie Kochell FEATURES EDITOR Sarah Hutchins FEATURES ASSISTANTS Joe Jasinski and Sean Morrison DEPARTMENTS EDITOR Haley Adams DEPARTMENTS ASSISTANT Rachel Stark ASSOCIATE EDITOR Alyssa Goldman EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS Lauren Clason, Stephanie Doctrow, and Marc Fishman

TIP JAR Replace friendship with fame in five steps. Local bands share what they’ve learned from their time spent in bars and basements.

Page 6

INDIANA DAILY STUDENT

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Brad Zehr MANAGING EDITORS Ben Phelps and Peter Stevenson ART DIRECTOR Larry Buchanan WEB TECH SPECIALISTS Greg Blanton, Nick Cassidy, Carl Brugger, and Rashmi Aroskar ADVERTISING SALES MANAGERS Adam Diskey and Sean Williams ADVERTISING/MARKETING WEB MASTERS Adam Rochford and Dhanalaxmi Kulkarni MARKETING MANAGER Kristin Carey DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Jeanette Booher CREATIVE MANAGER Matt Simanski IU STUDENT MEDIA DIRECTOR Ron Johnson

BETTER YOU The sounds of campus, town, and that annoying kid on the piano are stuck in your head. Let’s talk about how to tune in or out.

Page 8

CJ Lotz KNOW-IT-ALL Do conductors really matter? Why did we all play recorder in elementary school?

Life’s important questions demand answers.

Page 10

FEATURES

PRISONERS OF OUR OWN DEVICES

This is getting too complicated. Let’s all take out our earbuds and catch what students, professors, and musicians have to say about the listening experience.

Page 18

THE PRACTICE ROOM STAKE-OUT For 12 hours, Inside talked to every musician who played in room 228 of the Music Annex. Among the voices and violins, a lot of noise can take form in a day.

Page 14

He carried all the music into this issue.

Flip through your Inside and relax with him.

4 VOLUME 4, ISSUE 3

CONTACT US

NEWSROOM 812-855-0760 BUSINESS OFFICE 812-855-0763 FAX 812-855-8009 Inside magazine, the newest enterprise of the Office of Student Media, Indiana University at Bloomington, is published twice an academic semester: October and December, and February, and April. Inside magazine operates as a self-supporting enterprise within the broader scope of the Indiana Daily Student. Inside magazine operates as a designated public forum, and reader comments and contribution are welcome. Normally, the Inside magazine editor will be responsible for final content decisions, with the IDS editor-in-chief involved in rare instances.

All editorial and advertising content is subject to our policies, rates, and procedures. Readers are entitled to a single copy of this magazine. The taking of multiple copies of this publication may constitute as theft of property and is subject to prosecution.

I L L U S T R AT I O N S B Y E VA N M A N N W E I L E R

CONFESSIONS

TIP JAR

BETTER YOU

What makes a good DJ? It’s the ability to judge the crowd and keep the crowd moving, not keeping it at one momentum. Just livening the energy as the set goes on and building it up throughout the night.

What’s it like to give people that feeling – to make them go crazy?

It’s amazing. I really started to notice this last year, as the crowds have gotten bigger like that, to where everybody will absolutely lose their mind if you play the right stuff.

What’s been the weirdest request you’ve gotten?

Last year, I actually got a request for the Spice Girls, so I was kind of surprised by that.

They actually came up later on and requested Savage Garden, so that kind of made me shake my head.

Blend until well-mixed: confessions of a DJ

AS TOLD TO SEAN MORRISON PHOTO BY ZACH HETRICK

He plays a monthly show at The Bishop, throws his own parties, and has nearly 1,000 fans on Facebook. Senior Colin Rebey, also known as Phenom, has taken his music to the next level.

Why did you start spinning?

I started two summers ago, basically, because I was going to a lot of house parties and the music they were playing just wasn’t motivating people to dance. It was boring. People were standing around, not really having a good time, you know?

What did it take to get started?

I asked my mom, actually, for the money for the turntables, and promised her that I would do enough shows to where it would be able to pay for itself and I’d be able to pay her back.

What is the DJ’s role in music?

The DJ is kind of on the forefront of what’s new.

They’re always online, always looking for tracks, downloading tracks, putting them on their computer, playing them out for crowds, testing them. Basically, if it’s hot now, it was hot because a DJ got a hold of it and decided to put it on the radio.

A lot of artists are constantly sending out their tracks to DJs. You know, “Play this out. See how it goes.” They get feedback and stuff like that, and it gets pushed onto the radio and then it blows up.

What is it about music that inspires you?

Music as a whole is really my avenue for communication.

It’s the way I express myself. My mom told me a couple years ago that she couldn’t see me doing anything else besides music because it’s my main way to get my ideas out. For some people, it’s business. For me, it’s being able to play the music that I love and sharing it with a large crowd.

KNOW-IT-ALL

MUSIC ISSUE SURVEY

91%

say they listen to their tunes on an MP3 player.

Respondents could select more than one answer.

66% Internet radio

58%

radio (not Internet)

55% CD

52% live

20% vinyl

4% tape

THE VERB The first time “DJ” appeared as a verb was in 1986, according to the Oxford English Dictionary.

British newspaper the Guardian published the sentence, “I went back to the Northeast and started DJing.”

TOP 5 MOST-PLAYED SONGS Rebey usually doesn’t take requests, but he does have a few of his own favorites. His playlist depends on the crowd’s mood, he says.

1 “Warp 1.9” by The Bloody

Beetroots featuring Steve Aoki

2 “I Think I Like It” by Fake Blood

3 “Pon Di Floor” by Major Lazer 4 “aNYway” by Duck Sauce 5 “One More Time” by Daft Punk W W W. I D S N E W S . CO M / I N S I D E

CONFESSIONS

TIP JAR

BETTER YOU

KNOW-IT-ALL

5

steps to fame

B Y L A U R E N C L A S O N A N D A LY S S A G O L D M A N

The path of a rockstar can be, well, rocky. A few local bands smooth the way for us.

THE BANDS we interviewed.

JIP JOP A genre-bending jazz band with a hip-hop emcee.

CLAYTON ANDERSON BAND A country band on the verge of hitting it big.

COYABA An innovative reggae group bringing back dub, a post-recording effect.

THE MAIN SQUEEZE A pop-rock band with punk flavor.

SOUTH JORDAN Bloomington’s boy band.

Fingers in form, Coyaba guitarist Brett Holcomb practices with his band. (Photo by David E. Corso)

6 VOLUME 4, ISSUE 3

PICK A NAME YOU WON’T HATE IN 5 YEARS. While members of Coyaba were in Jamaica, their travel guide introduced them to the Arawak word for paradise: Coyaba. “It means a place of infinite feasting and dancing,” keyboard player Justin McKinney says. “It is always sunny all day. It’s a relaxing place to be. We kind of try to put people there, bring them to Coyaba.”

And once you find the perfect group name, rule number one is getting along.

“It’s a marriage without any sex,” says Michael David Hall, lead vocalist of South Jordan, “and you have to be with people you really respect and love.”

But just because you’re all in a band doesn’t mean you should put a ring on it.

“It becomes a business if you want to take it seriously and do something with it,” Clayton Anderson of Clayton Anderson Band says. “There’s been a couple times when I’ve had to let somebody go and it stinks, and it’s a big regret because he’s such a great guy. But if you don’t, then you’re holding everybody back.”

DON’T FORCE IT, JUST LOVE IT. The technical aspects will happen on their own, so let it flow. “These things happen organically,” says Matt Margeson, Jip Jop drummer. “They are supposed to happen organically.”

If it’s not fun, it’s not worth it, says Jip Jop vocalist Benny Gershman.

“Above all else, you still have to enjoy what you’re doing and have some sort of pleasure and satisfaction in it,” Gershman says. “At the end of the show, it’s pretty obvious that we’re enjoying the show because we’re all beaming.”

YOUR BAND COULD GET A PANDORA THUMBS UP. We talked to the founder.

3

ROCK OUT INSTANTLY. Grab that old guitar in the corner and learn these three chords. Play them in any order at any tempo. You can't go wrong.

MISTAKES THEY MADE, SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO

C major

G major

Reverberation. South Jordan band members practice in the house located on the street of their namesake.

(Photo by Zach Hetrick)

D major

GET OUT OF THE BASEMENT. Perform anywhere and everywhere, even if it’s for a crowd of 10.

“Even if a couple of people liked you and will listen to you again, then it was worth it,” says Brett Holcomb, Coyaba guitarist and vocalist.

To break away from the cellar scene, be a go-getter, not a come-get-me, even if things don’t quite work out.

After winning a contest to open for Kenny Chesney in Cincinnati, Clayton Anderson Band’s Anderson took a trip to Nashville and started knocking on company doors ... where he was promptly laughed at.

BUILD A FAN BASE AND WORK THE CROWD. Get online. South Jordan’s Facebook fan base has passed the 12,000 mark, and they have fans across the globe, including in Malaysia, France, Germany, and the U.K. “We released a music video sometime after Christmas, and within 12 hours, there were over 1,000 views from all around the world,” guitarist Mike Chan says. “We didn’t expect that.”

To keep your fans around, get out and mingle with the people who paid to see you play before or after the show. “Figure out who they are how, why they’re there, and how you can get them back at the next show,” Ryan Imboden, Jip Jop trumpet player, says.

Tim Westergren, founder of Pandora online radio, says bands and solo artists send him thousands of submissions each month, hoping to get played on a Pandora radio station. The Pandora mailbox is stuffed with homemade CDs crammed into envelopes. The company is moving to a digital submission form, but Westergren says it will still expose new music every day.

“It’s a completely democratic radio,” he says. “If you produce good music and send it to us, it will play without regard to your professional stature.”

It doesn’t matter how famous the band or artist is, or if it’s signed a record deal. “It means that we expose a lot of stuff that no one is playing,” he says.

“It’s making a difference for them.”

MAKE IT BIG. After a performance in Florida, South Jordan was offered a management contract.

“The best moment for our band was this guy bringing us back to his hotel room telling us all of the good and the bad parts about us,” Hall says. “And then he goes, I would like to hand you a contract, and we walked out of that hotel room so high off of life. We were prancing around the Orlando streets.”

South Jordan, with the help of its management team, has gained quite the following of loyal fans. Anita Johnson, a romance novelist, features South Jordan as the band performing in the wedding scene of her upcoming book. Johnson says she is hoping to turn her book into a movie and if all turns out well, South Jordan members will act as themselves.

“If you told us a year ago that people would be freaking out or if you told us a year ago that we would have 13,000 fans on Facebook, we would be like, ‘Oh, it’s so cool,’” Hall says.

“But now, it’s like we don’t care. We are just regular guys doing what we love to do.”

1 BENNY CHRISTMAS LIGHTS On Halloween in 2007, during Jip Jop’s second performance ever, lead vocalist Benny Gershman’s Christmas light costume went haywire when he started sweating on stage.

“I basically short-circuited,” Gershman says. “I was electrocuted. It was sort of a rush of adrenaline, but it was also extremely painful. They called me Benny Christmas Lights after that.”

ARE YOU THERE, GOD? IT’S ME, MICHAEL.

2

HOW TO PICK A BAND NAME

1. GIVE IT A STORY. The name “The Main Squeeze” came to the band’s old drummer in a dream, when he found a fridge full of oranges under a giant sign that read “The Main Squeeze.” The band’s logo also features the juicy fruit.

2. ACT LOCAL. After wrestling with several possible names while out to lunch at Hooters, South Jordan picked the name of the street many of the band members lived on at the time. “It has three syllables and three syllables to me is really important,” says lead vocalist Hall. “It just flows well. I’m really glad we aren’t a ‘the’ band. I think it’s cocky.”

At the end of South Jordan’s Dance Marathon performance last year, the soundman gave a heads up to the band that they only had time for one more song.

But Hall didn’t realize the voice was talking into their earpieces, and the audience couldn’t hear it. “So Michael gets on the mic and was like, ‘Wow, you sound like God. Big God, can we have four more songs?’” drummer Greg Olsten says.

“The crowd thought that I was praying to God,” Hall says.

DRINKING ON STAGE

3

Even though you feel great, you probably don’t sound great. Clayton Anderson Band front man says watching a recording of his drunken performance made him lighten up on the alcohol.

“You think you’re awesome,” he says, “but you’re not.”

W W W. I D S N E W S . CO M / I N S I D E

CONFESSIONS

TIP JAR

BETTER YOU

KNOW-IT-ALL

Hear here

BY JOE JASINSKI

The clock tower tolls the time and cell phones hum. You don’t have to be an artist to hear the sounds of campus. Here’s how to find harmony in the background noise.

MUSIC ISSUE SURVEY

WHAT SOUND MOVES YOU

You like moving with music. Though the most popular response for where you hear music was “at home,” the next two were walking to class and driving in the car.

Those who answered “at home” often also added they were dancing or cleaning while listening.

One respondent put that they listen to music while traveling: “riding in cars, buses, planes, walking to class.”

Another student summed up a common mentality: “Everywhere. I have an iPod on when I walk to class, CDs and the radio on in the car, and I listen to vinyl when I’m alone at home.”

T

o sophomore, artist, and Bloomington native Jeremy Gotwals, this city is a musical oasis. It’s a place that offers a “myriad of opportunities to express” oneself openly and freely.

Gotwals says his music, defined as “progressive acoustic,” revolves around his life experiences, spirituality, and a self-proclaimed “quest” to inspire and motivate. Think he’s kidding? He performed a song called “Azadi” (Farsi word

meaning “Freedom”) with Iranian music legend Soheil Zolfonoon at the Jacobs School of Music last August.

Bloomington’s music scene embraces an array of sounds, textures, colors, and “vibratory possibilities,” Gotwals says.

Case in point: Gotwals often strums and sings on campus buses. Any music, anytime, anywhere. We’ve composed a list of music you too can find around Bloomington anytime, anywhere, so you can find your own oasis.

BUFFALOUIE’S

1316 E. Third St.

114 S. Indiana Ave.

Phil Resler tends bar on a Friday morning. The mood is calm – a complete antithesis to the previous night. Thursday nights at Bear’s are irresistibly intense. The karaoke room is so packed (220 eager songsters) that customers are turned away at the door. One man offers to give $50 to enter. That’s $48 more than is required to sing.

The booze (30 gallons of the legendary “Hairy Bear” sold in one night) flows as freely as the words of Elton John, Sir Mix-A-Lot, and the Backstreet Boys. “Something as simple as a drink and music brings so much together,” Albert Bridgewaters, the charismatic bouncer, says.

Nostalgia is thick. Resler recalls a woman from California returning after 20 years. “There’s something about this place,” he says, remembering her. “People come back.”

“Saying ‘no’ is bad for business,” manager Ed Schwartzman says. When he joined forces with Eric Love, director of diversity education, to start Open Mic Night (every other Thursday) a year and a half ago, the duo applied the credo, “no limitations.” Anyone, any age, can take to the microphone.

The night has become a welcomed and anticipated (often “standing room only”) complement to the already smoking wings. The passion Schwartzman has for the evening adds to the ambiance. The stage, a 6-by-8-foot box, is named in honor of Schwartzman’s son and musician, Ben, who died in 2007.

One night it’s interactive rapper Chris Tabron, the next it’s a group of 15-year-old jazzers. Expect anything at Louie’s.

POURHOUSE CAFE

Vibrant yellows and greens punch up the limited confines of this hip coffee shop.

However, the musical selection has no ceiling. “They really change it up,” Soma regular and graduate student Colin Jenkins says. “It’s got the whole package.”

Visitors hear anything and everything from the sounds of Swedish electronic artist Fever Ray to the techno-German band Kraftwerk, and from punk performer Black Flag to Screaming Females, who are influenced by “spooky things and sea creatures.”

Employees such as Lauren Jones play DJ during shifts.

Just don’t expect the usual.

“There are other coffee shops to go to to listen to Mozart,” Jones says.

SOMA COFFEE HOUSE 322 E. Kirkwood Ave.

314 E. Kirkwood Ave.

Jeremy Gotwals strums for passengers and the bus driver on the A bus.

(Photo by Alex Benson)

WELCOME TO THE SPACE JAM: We were shocked when a poll of the Inside staff revealed that nine out of 13 of our staff members once owned the Space Jam soundtrack. So we decided to see if the combo of Looney Tunes characters and hip-hop artists appealed to anyone else. Forty-two percent of our survey respondents said they once owned the CD that featured Chris Rock, Barry White, and R. Kelly. The soundtrack, released in 1996, 8 VOLUME 4, ISSUE 3

BEAR’S PLACE

peaked on the Billboard 200 Albums of the Year chart at No. 2 and, in 2001, was certified six times platinum. This means the album has sold more than 6 million copies. For comparison, Taylor Swift’s “Fearless” album has been certified five times platinum. Usher, Alicia Keys, and Mariah Carey have had albums certified six times platinum. The Beatles “Rubber Soul” album has gone platinum six times.

The coffee’s good, but try a listen. “We book live music to see, not just as background,” pourer George Drake says. The house tries to stay as “local as possible,” with its furthest performer, Brooks Ritter, coming from Louisville, Ky. Pourhouse addresses global needs by exposing local talent.

All profits go toward current causes, like to victims of AIDS and leprosy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Two to three times a month, Pourhouse features live shows, mostly but not limited to acoustic acts.

The daily music depends on the atmosphere inside and outside, Drake says. “Music depends on the day. It’s upbeat when it’s busy, like today.”

MUSIC ISSUE SURVEY

LOUD KEYS, SILENT STARES: THE UNION’S SOUTH LOUNGE PIANO As far as study spots go, the South Lounge in the Indiana Memorial Union is ideal.

With a room full of couches, a Starbucks caffeine fix just steps away, and a usually quiet atmosphere, homework is a cozy chore.

It’s quiet until someone starts playing the piano, which is one of 12 pianos in the Union (although not all are in public spaces). While some South Loungers appreciate the spontaneous live concerts, others think ivory-bangers should find another spot to play.

Gary Chrzastowski, assistant director of facilities

41%

One riffs, the other rolls her eyes. (Photo illustration by Zach Hetrick)

for the IMU, says the South Lounge over time has become a place for quiet study, and Starbucks is for people who want to chat. With the unwritten quiet rule, he says he occasionally hears comments about the music.

“We get complaints every now and then,” he says.

However, there’s not a lot he can do. “There’s not a policy against playing a piano.”

Chrzastowski says the best way to take care of students playing is for other students to self-police the area, and to speak up if someone’s playing is distracting.

Senior Gabi Karas says she

studies in the South Lounge about twice a week. She says she thinks the piano is nice to have, except during finals week.

Pianists should think before hitting the keys.

“It’s not like they’re wrong in doing it,” Karas says. “It’s just an unspoken courtesy. They should judge the appropriate time.”

of respondents say they have been annoyed by someone playing a piano in public. The most common place for the annoyance?

The Indiana Memorial Union South Lounge. One student put it simply: “The 'thou shalt not talk' room at the IMU right next to Starbucks. Don’t get me wrong, I love piano music,, but people are clearly in that room to sleep, read, and work on homework.

Shhhhh.”

Other least-favorite places to hear music: “Any dorm’s cafeteria invariably has someone plunking out “The Entertainer” on their pianos. It would be fine if it wasn’t that song every time!”

W W W. I D S N E W S . CO M / I N S I D E

CONFESSIONS

TIP JAR

BETTER YOU

KNOW-IT-ALL

What’s up with

hot cross buns?

Don’t be afraid to ask life’s most difficult questions.

WHY DID WE LEARN TO PLAY THE RECORDER IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL? H

B Y R A C H E L S TA R K PHOTO BY ZACH HETRICK

XB

The song “Hot Cross Buns,” considered the National Recorder Anthem, consists of only three notes: B, A, and G. A hot cross bun is a sweet roll marked with a cross in white icing, traditionally sold at Easter. English street vendors used to sing about these buns.

B

A

G

RECORDER ROCKOUT Led Zepplin used wooden recorders in the beginning of “Stairway to Heaven.” Jimi Hendrix featured the recorder in his song, “If 6 Was 9.”

GET PAID TO PLAY. The American Recorder Society offers scholarships to students pursuing the instrument, according to its Web site. It’s one more reason we should have stuck with it.

10 V O L U M E 4 , I S S U E 3

Most of us squeaked our way through third or fourthgrade music class, smiling proudly when we mastered “Hot Cross Buns” on our recorders.

Then we lost the plastic, spitfilled instruments under our beds or in our closets. Years later, we at Inside wondered why we spent hours practicing the instrument that disappeared from our lives once we turned 11. Local and state recorder gurus helped us set the facts straight.

Sarah Fronczek, education specialist in curriculum and instruction at the Indiana Department of Education, says the recorder is the typical wind instrument for kids to learn for two reasons: cost and simplicity.

Teachers can buy the basic kind in bulk for a couple bucks each.

“As opposed to the clarinet or something, it’s an easier instrument to learn,” Fronczek says.

Beginning in third grade, students in Indiana are expected to “play given pitch patterns on a mallet instrument, keyboard, or recorder,” according to Indiana’s music education standards. In fourth grade, standards include students playing “pitched and nonpitched percussion instruments, keyboards, and recorders (as identified by curriculum) using correct techniques for holding instruments and producing sound.” These standards comply with the national standards, which are less specific. Whether or not the recorder is the instrument of choice is a local decision, Fronczek says, but typically schools favor

these instruments that have earned the reputation as a “child’s instrument.”

Fourth-graders at Fairview Elementary School in Bloomington play the recorder twice a week for 40 minutes. Although at times the shrill whistles aren’t the prettiest music to her ears, music teacher Kathryn Heise enjoys the students’ response to learning the instrument.

“It gives them a sense of accomplishment – they can read music, they can count music,” she says. “So, next time they come into music class, it’s not just them banging on instruments. They’re able to understand music.”

For some, the enjoyment of the recorder stretches well beyond their elementary school days.

Laura Hagen, coordinator of the Pre-College Recorder Program at the Jacobs School of Music, is working toward a master’s in recorder pedagogy and is finishing up a performer’s diploma in recorder. She has played the recorder for more than 30 years.

Under her supervision, the program offers individual lessons for kids ages seven to 18. Hagen hopes students leave with not only a grasp on recorder technique, but also an appreciation for the history of the instrument.

“The unfortunate fact is that in the U.S., it has been viewed as a preorchestral instrument,” Hagen says.

The recorder is part of the early music department at the school of music, which includes Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque music.

To show just how popular the recorder was in earlier times, Hagen calls on a little-known fact: King Henry VIII of England was thought to have owned about 75 recorders at the time of his death.

“It’s a beautiful instrument,” Hagen says. “People usually get a lot of enjoyment from it right from the start.”

Famous composers such as J.S. Bach wrote specifically for the recorder, says master’s student Laura Hagen, who has played the recorder for more than 30 years.

CAN ANYONE BE A MUSICIAN?

BY STEPHANIE DOCTROW We all know that person who can play three musical instruments, and that other person who thinks belting offkey in the car makes him or her a star. Our experts say musical ability is a science.

Psychology professor Karin James conducts experiments on music processing. She says people trained in music process it differently than people with no musical experience. James found that trained musicians handle music in the same centers of their brain used for language.

James says her research doesn’t show whether some people are more musically inclined than others. However, people who can integrate the auditory, visual, and motor senses can pick up an instrument more easily. It is

possible for some people to be better-equipped to combine those senses.

Janis Stockhouse, director of the band program at Bloomington High School North, is used to dealing with students of all skill levels.

She says students with a background in the piano or string instruments are better at picking up other instruments.

“The kids who can sing on-key and sit down and play piano by ear, those are the stars.”

One of those stars (all grown up) is sophomore and ethnomusicology major Kevin Hood, who plays drum set, hand drum, xylophone, guitar, bass, piano, harmonica, and jaw harp. He has been expanding his musical repertoire since he joined band in sixth grade, often by teaching himself.

To Hood, picking up new instruments is a challenge that everyone should explore. He says that in his experience, some instruments are harder than others to master, but at the base level, everyone is capable of music competence.

“Anybody could play if they are interested enough and devoted enough time ays. to practicing,” he says.

WE CAN’T ALL BE BACH. Pick up one of the easiest instruments to play..

Pic

SAXOPHONE SAXOPH

UKULELE

“It’s easy to create a good sound and it’s it easy to play notes on the saxophone.

It’s not easy as you get more advanced, adv but it’s a ggood start.”

The ukulele is edging ing out the recorder for or music education inn some schools.

Like the recorder, it is easy to pick up and play simple tunes.

Janis Stockhouse, Bloom Bloomington High Schoo North band School directo director

COWBELL COWBE ELL

KAZOO

We alway always ys need more. e.

Steps one through five: hum.

W W W. I D S N E W S . CO M / I N S I D E

CONFESSIONS

MUSIC ISSUE SURVEY

WHAT IS RUINING MUSIC TODAY? Quite a few responded that nothing is ruining music. But when there was an answer, the overwhelming response wass auto-tune ((digital voice alteration).

Commercialization, Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers, Guitar Hero, and American Idol also ranked high on the list of ruination.

TIP JAR

BETTER YOU

KNOW-IT-ALL

DO CONDUCTORS REALLY MATTER?

BY MARC FISHMAN PHOTOS BY ZACH HETRICK Any ensemble contains a group of talented musicians who dedicate their time to mastering their instruments.

But what about the conductor?

If it takes years of practice and dedication to master the performance of a musical instrument, why is the person who stands in front of the ensemble waving his or her hands and keeping time so important? Can’t we all keep a beat?

The conductor actually has a larger role than simply keeping time, says Stephen Pratt, Jacobs School of Music professor and conductor of the IU Wind Ensemble.

“In reality, if an ensemble doesn’t keep time by itself, it’s not a very good ensemble,” Pratt says. “The job the

FAVORITE RESPONSE: “People, myself included, listen to singles, thus making the complete album somewhat irrelevant. Artists should be credited not by how popular a single song is, but by the thoroughness, flow and overall message of an album.”

WHAT BAND WILL DEFINE GENERATION Y? Lady Gaga received r the most votes. Squeezing in right behind her was Radiohead.

There were a few students who worried it would bee Nickelback.

One respondent, stuck in middle school, replied with Chumbawumba.

Junior Tamara Dworetz conducts an invisible orchestra in her advanced conducting class. She is studying music education with a minor in conducting. She also plays the trumpet.

Best sum-up: “None, but I think that’s the beauty of our generation.”

41%

of students own Beatles music.

FILLED WITH SONG Department chair of instrumental conducting David Effron has conducted orchestras in Canada, Taiwan, Korea, Europe, Israel, Mexico, and the United States.

Professor Effron conducted for the recording of Aaron Copland’s A Lincoln Portrait, which won a Grammy Award.

Jacobs School of Music Web site 12 V O L U M E 4 , I S S U E 3

conductor has in working with an ensemble in rehearsing is to try to establish the basic parameters of tempo and rhythm and all that goes into making a piece come alive.”

In other words, Pratt says the conductor defines the stylistic interpretation of a piece of music, and then elicits that interpretation from the performers. Interpretations range anywhere from the concept of the piece’s tempo to the balance of volumes and sounds, as well as the intensity and overall mood of the notes.

Pratt also says the conductor plays a psychological role.

“The conductor sets the mood for the rehearsal of the ensemble and eventually for the performance by how they interact with the players,” he says. “If there is a dictatorial leadership, then you’re going to get a certain kind of response from your ensemble. If there is more of a fellowship kind of leadership, you’re going to get another kind of response.”

Benjamin Hoffman, a sophomore violin student, says the role of the conductor also changes slightly at different levels of experience.

For example, at the amateur level, the conductor becomes responsible for musical instruction as well as musical interpretation. In the best cases, Hoffman says the conductor uses a general understanding of each instrument to guide the players through difficult pieces.

“A real conductor brings musicians together,” he says.

While conductors come from all musical backgrounds, Pratt says they need to understand each instrument in the ensemble.

“The conductor has to be knowledgeable about every instrument, about music history, and about music theory,” Pratt says. “In other words, the conductor has to be a generalist who specializes in everything.”

ONLINE ONLY More photos, interviews, and original compositions. www.idsnews.com/inside

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W W W. I D S N E W S . CO M / I N S I D E

After students compete for a spot at the Jacobs School of Music and before they compete in festivals around the country, students compete to find an empty practice space. We picked one – room 228 in the Music Annex – and sat outside for 12 hours to see what played out. This is the place where whimsical clarinet, energetic violin, and lyrical arias sweep through the halls. This is also the place where students consider their futures and practice for auditions that will define their careers.

About 1,600 students share only 168 practice rooms at the music school.

They all wish they could just

GET A

BY HALEY ADAMS, SARAH HUTCHINS, AND CJ LOTZ | PHOTOS BY ZACH HETRICK

R

ed gum is wedged into the corner of the wall. When practice room 228 sits empty, it still resonates from the droning cello and soaring voices of students in neighboring rooms. Its baby grand piano fills most of the space, and a chair confronts a full-length mirror, waiting for a musician to fill the chamber with sound. Water stains pattern the peg-board walls. Outside, the door is gray and covered in scuff marks from violin, cello, and saxophone cases bumping into it.

There’s a small square window for practice-room-hopefuls to peek in and see if the room is occupied. The walls lining the hallway are green or blue depending on the light.

From top right: Musicians Natsuko Ejiri, Ivan Ugorich, Melissa Block, Alana Murphy, Juan Carlos Zamudio, and Stephen Dorff take a break from practicing in the Music Annex. Opposite: John Leszczynski grabs a stand from the hallway outside room 228.

14 V O L U M E 4 , I S S U E 3

ROOM.

It’s 8 a.m., and the Music Annex walls are the color of Orbit sweet mint gum.

8:01 a.m.

Jeff Myers Year: First year of master’s Hometown: Seattle Instrument: Bass trombone How long he’s been playing: Since seventh grade Why trombone? “I think the story of every trombone player is there are too many trumpet players. So the band director usually gestures to the trumpet section and says, ‘We need more people in the low brass. Is anybody interested?’”

9:02 a.m.

Lauren Coburn Year: Freshman Hometown: Ashland, Va. Instrument: Cello How long she’s been playing: Since fifth grade Do you have to be in an orchestra at IU? “Yeah, you have to. You audition as soon as you get here, like Welcome Week, and then you’re put in for the whole year. So then every year, you reaudition for a different seat.”

We called the Jacobs School of Music to clarify. “Every music major must participate in an ensemble appropriate to his or her major,” says Andrea Schiebel from the school’s undergraduate office. Students are in bands, orchestras, or wherever their instrument fits.

10:15 a.m.

Inha Kim Year: First year of master’s Hometown: Seoul, South Korea

Instrument: Cello How long she’s been playing: Since she was 11 Inha Kim finds room 228, and peeks in the small square window. Wearing a navy blue Marc Jacobs shirt dress, she carries her cello and starts preparing for practice. A native of Seoul, North Korea, Inha came to IU with her husband, who is a student in the Kelley School of Business.

Inha has been playing the cello since she was 11 years old, and has studied music in Germany and Korea. She says she was lucky IU had a strong music school.

“I knew that at IU the music school is very good,” she says.

“And, especially, Janos Starker is very famous for cello.”

As a master’s student in her second semester, Inha now studies with Starker, an internationally renowned cellist and Grammy Award

winner who was also the former principal cellist for the Metropolitan Opera.

Inha says there are not enough practice rooms for the four hours of practicing she puts in each day.

She also wishes there were more music lectures for students. But those are her only complaints.

“The music school is a very big part of IU. And we have a great, great faculty,” she says. “And we have great concerts almost every week.”

While Inha practices, Rose Fraser waits outside. She’s about to kick Inha out because it’s 11:15 a.m., her time to practice. Rose has room 228 reserved Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 11:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m., and room 224 reserved at the same time on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. It’s a strategy music students take advantage of to beat the shortage of rooms.

“One of the things that we do

differently than our competitor schools is that we actually schedule times for students to have a set number of hours per week in the rooms,” says Jacobs Executive Associate Dean Eugene O’Brien.

He says students base their practice times on their registration date and degree.

11:15 a.m.

Rose Fraser Year: Sophomore Hometown: Woodbridge, Va. Instrument: Clarinet How long she’s been playing: Since she was 12 What are you hoping to do after Jacobs? “I’ll probably go to grad school. I mean, in this day and age, most musicians who are getting jobs are master’s or doctoral graduates. It’s possible to get a job straight out of undergrad, but you have to be incredibly talented. It’s really unusual.”

W W W. I D S N E W S . CO M / I N S I D E

In the afternoon light, the walls are the color of aqua toothpaste.

11:55 a.m.

Josiah Coe Year: Junior Hometown: Atlanta Instrument: Viola How long he’s been playing: Strings since he was four, viola for four years Favorite artists: Coldplay, U2, Bon Iver, Kings of Leon Josiah Coe, a dark-haired violist, arrives and says he’s preparing for his ensemble practice. He immediately sets to work hunting and gathering music stands and extra chairs, poking his head in rooms and returning with stands in both hands. He’s focused now, but just a few months ago he prepared to leave IU. “I wasn’t seeing how music could help me help people in any way,” he says. “I was spending hours a day in a little room by myself and when I got out of there, I was tired and I just went home and went to bed.”

Josiah wanted to study something that would give him a platform to help people. He planned to study international affairs and had already applied to the University of Georgia and received a full scholarship.

When he went home to Atlanta during Thanksgiving break, his grandmother, who is from the Philippines, told him a story that changed his perceptions.

During WWII and the U.S. occupation of the Philippines until 1946, Josiah’s oncewealthy family was homeless.

“My family had lost all of their possessions, and their house was used as a Japanese military camp,” Josiah says. “They were literally walking around for years.”

The family found one camp where musicians played for anyone who would dance.

“For my grandma, she spoke of the story really fondly. It was really warm,” he says. “People were there and were able to dance as if there was no war.

Musicians kind of alleviated the severity and pressure of death and the destruction that ravaged their homes.”

Josiah knew he could stay at

16 V O L U M E 4 , I S S U E 3

A freshman quartet rehearses Brahms, String Quartet in C, Opus 51 No. 1. Anna Chesson plays cello, Sangwoo Kim and Bo Yoon Choi play violin, and Susanna Johnson plays viola.

IU and be a source of relief for those who heard his music.

“You do what you’re good at in order to help people,” he says. “You don’t have to be Mother Theresa. Nothing really changed with how I viewed music, but how I viewed service kind of changed. It helped change the reason for why I’m playing music.”

His own questions satisfied, Josiah focused on spontaneous kindness. He decided to bring students closer by feeding them Filipino food. He and a friend stayed up late to make three huge trays of pancit long noodles, as well as more than 100 egg rolls.

For four hours, he stood inside the music practice building and fed everyone who passed by.

“We weren’t allowed to serve an official lunch, so I said to people, ‘This is my lunch, do you want to have some?’”

Outside of the practice room, a friend walks by and asks Josiah if he is using the space.

“Those are my chairs and my things, and I will fight you for them,” he says, laughing. While waiting, his phone rings. His group doesn’t need to practice, they just need to talk. Josiah leaves the room he’s spent 25 minutes staking out.

They’ll practice later, he says.

As he hustles away, a woman walks up and enters the room.

She grabs the two extra stands and puts them outside the door.

As she starts warming up her

voice, the cellist’s bowing next door drowns her out.

12:20 p.m.

Mary Cloud Year: Junior Hometown: Atlanta Major: Voice How long she’s been singing: Seven years Favorite singer: Opera singer Maria Callas

1:03 p.m.

John Leszczynski Year: Senior Hometown: Fort Wayne Instrument: Saxophone How long he’s been playing: Since fourth grade John Leszczynski wants to play saxophone for the president, even if it means going through boot camp. He studies both saxophone and composition, and is preparing for auditions for one of the four special army bands. Musicians don’t get a break from basic training, according to the United States Military Academy Band Web site. Even if John is a musician, he’ll need to maintain the appropriate weight, pass fitness and rifle tests, and train for combat for nine weeks.

“I don’t think I’d relish it,” John says about basic training, “but I’m already pretty in shape.”

John is tall, thin, and a wizard with the saxophone. When he walks into the practice room,

Room 228 in the Music Annex offered space to 17 students in 12 hours.

he turns off his cell phone, takes out his instrument, and starts playing long tones, or holding one note to work on tone quality.

To the un-classically-trained ear, he might as well be on stage backing John Coltrane. He’s practiced enough to warrant that sound. His regimen demands at least three hours of practice a day in between his music classes, for a total of about six hours of playing each day.

He says he has arrived at the practice rooms when it was still dark outside, then left the music school after sunset.

On March 3, he will attend the North American Saxophone Alliance conference in Athens, Ga. There he will perform and compete. He will also hear an ensemble perform a piece he wrote. The song is called “They Might Be Gods,” and it is a

sarcastic piece that juxtaposes intense technical runs with awkward dissonant dances, he says. He says he hopes his music will reach larger audiences. He appreciates when students who don’t study music attend Jacobs performances, even if they don’t have a trained understanding of the composition.

“Music majors are so used to everything here, it’s not as special. We understand it more on a technical level,” John says of those who study music, “but people can still enjoy it.

We’re probably enjoying it in a different way.”

2:58 p.m.

Anna Chesson, Sangwoo Kim, Bo Yoon Choi, and Susanna Johnson.

Year: All freshmen String quartet

As the sky darkens, the walls look sea foam green.

4:01 p.m.

Loralee Culbert Hometown: Fairfax, Va. Major: Music Year: Senior What she’s practicing: Voice (although she also plays the piano and organ) Years singing: 11 “I prefer to practice in the mornings, but usually practicing is crammed between other activities, when I have a chance,” she says. “Organ rooms are on the third floor, but I prefer the second floor for voice and piano. And I accompany a few singers so we usually rehearse on the second floor.”

4:25 p.m.

“I only have five minutes to practice,” says a student approaching room 228. No time for questions, no time for

a name. He’s “the five-minute guy.” And then, at exactly 4:30 p.m., he’s gone.

4:39 p.m.

Nathaniel Baron-Schmitt Hometown: Bloomington Year: Bloomington High School South senior Instrument: Piano. He’s practicing before a lesson with Dr. Karen Taylor, director of the Jacobs School of Music’s Young Pianists Program.

Years playing: Nine

Junior Mary Cloud studies voice. She practices in the Music Annex and has been singing for about seven years.

6:20 p.m.

Mary Poole enters, switching from the room to the left into room 228.

Home state: Georgia Year: Junior What she’s practicing: Clarinet Years playing: Nine Interesting fact: She befriended the janitor in order to stay in the practice room past midnight (when the practice rooms close). Instead of leaving, she would turn off the light and sit in the room until the halls were clear.

W W W. I D S N E W S . CO M / I N S I D E

prisoners of our own devic by natalie avon | photos by zach hetrick

Stop riing through your iTunes library and take an active approach to music listening.

18 V O L U M E 4 , I S S U E 3

es

24:55 HERE COMES THE SUN

It feels like years since you’ve been here Editor’s Note: This story is inspired by side two of Abbey Road, the Beatles final album.

Abbey Road has a long suite of songs – many brief and segued together. The reason for using the suite method was to include various short and unfinished John Lennon and Paul McCartney compositions. The collection forms a valuable part of the album. We encourage you to play the album while reading this article.

J

ohn Lennon told us, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” The same, it seems, could be said about music.

Music is what happens when you’re busy walking to class, doing your homework, washing the dishes, eating a meal, or having a conversation.

Music has become the background noise to our lives.

College students – Generation Y – have gotten so wrapped up in the technologies and devices they use that they’ve forgotten the point.

W W W. I D S N E W S . CO M / I N S I D E

THE FUTURE OF MUSIC, PLUS OR MINUS ONE. The details of how Christopher Raphael’s “Music Plus One” project works include plenty of computer and math jargon like “Gaussian random variables.” Here’s what the project can do for you, the musician.

A program called Music Minus One (MMO) has been around for more than 50 years. MMO records only the accompaniment (a piano concerto without the piano). The soloist then plays with the recording. The musician must follow the accompaniment – “a futile battle” as Raphael describes it on his Web site.

Music Plus One program responds to the musician in real-time, meaning that the recorded accompaniment keeps up with the musician, not the other way around. If the musician changes tempo, the program changes.

Raphael’s goal is to make music available to the those who don’t have a live accompanist waiting to pick up an instrument and play.

Like any human accompanist, the computer must learn to listen and play. In essence, the system learns the basic music template, but can tell when the soloist makes a mistake or embellishes. The computer also learns to sight-read credibly, Raphael says.

A professional oboe player and mathematician, Raphael said he found the tool helpful while preparing for performances and learning new pieces.

20 V O L U M E 4 , I S S U E 3

It doesn’t matter that you were the first person to introduce your friends to a new band. It doesn’t matter that you have more than 20,000 songs in your music library. It doesn’t matter that you only listen to music produced before the 1970s. And, it really doesn’t matter that you can make the best party mix on the block.

The only thing that matters is the music feels and sounds right to you, because, when it comes down to it, experiencing music is not a competition. It’s personal.

Regardless of medium or mantra, people are drawn to diverse music. For every genre, there are as many enthusiasts as there are critics.

But different music brings different joy to different people.

We’re as unique as our tastes.

When you strip away your iPod and the 18,000 songs you don’t actually listen to, what do you have left?

Pure joy.

28:00 BECAUSE

Love is all, love is new When we experience music we love, our brain reacts in the same way as it does to food, sex, and drugs, according to a study done at McGill University in Montreal.

Biologically, all humans respond to music in the same way. It’s the actual song or melody that varies.

Marianne Kielian-Gilbert, professor of music theory, says different music speaks to us.

Though Kielian-Gilbert listens to symphony music and owns books on Stravinsky, she appreciates new, popular music because it gives her a fresh perspective on the compositions she has studied for years.

“Good music shouldn’t have anything to do with if it’s popular or classical,” she says.

It all depends on how individuals identify with music, such as how a person was raised or if he or she has previous musical training.

“It’s about what personalizes something for somebody,” Kielian-Gilbert says.

Music is an individual experience and many factors play into a person’s favorites.

“Because you’ve grown up a certain way, you have certain associations and memories,” KielianGilbert says.

“Don’t Stop Believin’”—the first catalog track to sell more than 2 million digital downloads—is going to have a different effect if you’re scrubbing the dishes as opposed to screaming at the top of your lungs in a bar.

It’s all about context.

THE MEDLEY 30:45 YOU NEVER GIVE ME YOUR MONEY

Oh, that magic feeling Glenn Gass thinks Kurt Vonnegut said it best.

“The goal of an artist should be to make people happy they’re alive,” the professor of music says, paraphrasing Vonnegut. “And he said that the Beatles did that. He recognized that they had a positive universal appeal that nothing else has touched in our lifetime, or several lifetimes.”

In 1964, Gass heard The Beatles for the first time. His neighbor told him that a friend down the street had the “I Want To Hold Your Hand” single on vinyl, and they had to listen to the record immediately.

Saba Kifle is a senior studying African American and African Diaspora Studies and philosophy.

“We ran over to his house and looked at it, looked at them – the picture, the name – it was all so weird,” Gass says. “The first 20 seconds we were like, ‘Oh, I’m not sure,’ but then, it was like, ‘That’s great.’”

Gass was 7 years old at the time and has been a Beatles fan for more than 40 years. He’s listened to the band in all mediums.

“I admire the purists, but I’m not one,” Gass says. “I love the feel of an album. I love the look. I love album art. … But iPods are just so convenient.”

To a trained ear like Gass’, the difference in quality between mediums is noticeable, but the ease in finding a song, artist, or album makes the compromised sound quality tolerable.

“When I go from a cassette to a CD, it goes from warm to shrill,” Gass says. “And now everyone says that MP3s sound like pickaxes to your ears ... and they do when you compare them to a really good LP.” However, Gass says he is a purist in that he listens to full albums, be it the Beatles or another group.

“What bugs me the most is the sense that everything is just one big random shuffle,” Gass says. “iPods can easily become background music.”

He says people are so consumed with singles and shuffle that the concept of an album is almost extinct.

“The whole sense of what an album is ... I don’t have to explain it yet, but I think in about five years I might,” Gass says. “Songs need to be heard the way they were meant to be heard.”

34:47 SUN KING

37:13 MEAN MR. MUSTARD

Everybody’s happy

Only place that he's ever been

A song changed Craig Shank’s life, and the Bloomington resident can remember the moment exactly.

The programming assistant for WTTS and former WIUX DJ had skipped school, pretending to be sick. It was the anniversary of Kurt Cobain’s death.

“I was listening to X103 in Indianapolis, and Nirvana played their cover of David Bowie’s ‘The Man Who Sold The World,’” Shank says. “I just remember hearing that song and thinking, ‘I have to own everything this band has ever done.’”

The song strengthened Shank’s fascination with radio.

“It connected with me at the right time, and being home that particular day when that particular song was being played, and me having my radio on … it just all felt right,” Shank says. “I’m constantly thinking there could be someone out there that’s listening to radio right now, and a song is changing their life.”

Shank says he believes the context and timing has everything to do with how a person experiences music.

“If you select the right records and put them in the right order for the right people at the right place and the right time, you can make an entire room fall in love for one night,” Shank says.

In elementary school, Shank listened to radio because he was interested in the medium. His love of music didn’t come until later.

Now, music is Shank’s life.

“It’s the one thing that never disappoints me, no matter what’s going on in my life,” Shank says.

“There’s always that one song that can turn it all around.”

Shank remembers a time he was extremely late to a wedding and missed the entire ceremony.

“You Can’t Always Get What You Want” by the Rolling Stones came on the radio and made the situation almost funny.

“In a way, it seems like sometimes the songs choose us,” Shank says, “not the other way around.”

Assistant professor of music Andy Hollinden says Generation Y has both the history of music at its fingertips and the desire to learn about it.

“This whole notion of buying music that your parents listened to when they were young … in my generation was practically unthinkable,” he says.

The Beatles made the Billboard 200 Albums of the Year Chart a total of 18 times. Ten of those years were before 1977 and the rest were between 1995 and 2009.

“The music that you listen to in your formative years, that music will be like your home base,” he says.

“Now kids say the music I grew up with is way better than the music they grew up with.”

Hollinden heard “Machine Gun” by Jimi Hendrix when he was 9 years old, but it is still his favorite song.

“It’s as good of a performance as any music made by anybody anywhere.”

38:19 POLYTHENE PAM

News of the world Music informatics graduate student Yushen Han is combining his love of music with his electrical engineering degree to help other musicians.

He is aiding in the Music Plus One project, which uses computer software to provide realtime accompaniment to a musician.

The software puts the musician in control of tempo.

Han plays the guitar and enjoys classical and popular music equally.

“I don’t think there is much of a difference between the two,” Han says.

In the future, Han says it will be easier for amateur musicians to create songs using simple computer software.

“People love music as much as they always have,” Han says. “But this generation is more interested in making music.”

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W W W. I D S N E W S . CO M / I N S I D E

39:31 SHE CAME IN THROUGH THE BATHROOM WINDOW

Didn’t anybody tell her?

PAUSE

WITH THE FOUNDER OF PANDORA

Inside called Tim Westergren, founder and chief strategist of Pandora online radio.

The Stanford alumnus immediately identified IU for its music school.

Thank you.

WHY IS CHOICE SUCH A BIG DEAL? People want to hear more of what they like, he says.

College students are lucky. They’re packed in dorms, which are likee petri dishes for both swine flu and music swapping. Once students graduate, they’re starved for new music.

NICE TUNES, GRANDMA. The average age for a Pandora listener is actually 32 years old old, and Westergren says he knows of a few listeners older than 100.

MUSIC GENES Pandora’s innovation knows no age. It started as the Music Genome Project 10 years ago, which treats songs like DNA and uncodes their genes using more than 400 attributes. For example, vocal quality has about 30 sub-features like tone and falsetto. By mapping songs, the project selects music its listener might like.

The listener can give a thumbs up or down for each song.

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Time stopped for senior Megan Hanna when she first heard “Paperback Writer” in her “Music of The Beatles” class sophomore year.

“Everyone was silent in the room, and all of a sudden no one else was there,” Hanna says. “It was both amazing and overwhelming, and I knew it was my favorite instantly.”

Hanna traveled to London the following summer to study the Beatles. There, she visited Chiswick Park, where the Beatles filmed the music video for “Paperback Writer.”

Now when she hears the song, she revisits the garden and vividly remembers the flowers, mazes, and statues.

“Being where they filmed the video, something that highly influenced them at that time, it just came alive and made it even more personal,” Hanna says.

It is the one vinyl album that Hanna can’t find at any record store.

“I’m always looking for it,” Hanna says. “But, as long as I’m listening to the Beatles, it doesn’t matter too much to me how I’m listening, because I’m happy no matter what.”

41:28 GOLDEN SLUMBER

And I will sing a lullaby Jason Nickey, co-owner of Landlocked Music, is happiest when he’s listening to vinyl.

“I like the process of putting on a record, and turning over a record, and dropping the needle on a record … and how it focuses you on the music and creates a world in which you listen to it,” he says, pretending to go through the steps.

As a child, Nickey listened to music on his alarm clock radio.

Now, the time spent putting on a record is what makes the experience worthwhile.

“It’s weird to me that some people think that vinyl is a hassle,” he says. “That’s what I like about it.”

After purchasing his first record, a Twisted Sister album when he was 8 years old, Nickey fell in love with the tangibility of vinyl.

“I feel sad for people who never experience records. It’s like envisioning a world without books,” Nickey says. “What a depressing existence.”

42:59 CARRY THAT WEIGHT

Carry that weight a long time With software such as GarageBand, music is getting easier for the untrained musician to produce, says John Gibson, assistant director of the Center for Electronic and Computer Music in the Jacobs School of Music. However, there’s only so much you can do with computer-generated sounds.

“It’s a little bit like painting by the numbers,” Gibson says.

Gibson is a composer and writes his own production software, something he never imagined when he was playing guitar with his band in the 1970s.

“I didn’t start out with the idea that I’m going to be an electronic music composer who writes all his own software,” Gibson says, smiling.

When working with notation software in college, Gibson noticed a similarity between the sound of electronic music and his old electric guitar.

“I think that happens to most everybody,” Gibson says. “Something they do when they’re really young, even if they turn away from it and go some different places, it’s still there.”

STARTING TO SOUND A LITTLE ROBOTIC?

44:35 THE END

And in the end Christopher Raphael, a classically trained oboist and director of the music informatics program, has heard his share of both classical and popular music.

He says that once he began taking his training seriously, classical music eclipsed everything else.

“I guess I thought the right opinion was that it was the only music worth listening to in the world,” Raphael says. “It was everything to me.”

After playing the oboe professionally, Raphael went back to school to learn about computer science.

Still, he wanted more than anything to be an oboist, and now it’s a part of his research for the Music Plus One project.

“I finally found a way of forcing people to listen to me play the oboe,” Raphael says, laughing.

Raphael has been working for more than 18 years to help musicians practice with Music Plus One, which he says is his biggest professional success.

However, he acknowledges that a computer can never listen to music the way humans can.

“Maybe it’s impossible at some level to get the computer to understand something about the essence of music,” Raphael says. “But it’s not impossible to get the computer to do something that a person will have an ascetic response to. That’s the goal.”

“I think it does scare some people,” Westergren says.

“It may sound scientific, but it’s actually quite human.” Twentyfive musicians work for Pandora by manually describing musical elements.

Think of them like clerks at a local record store.

WHY DOES IT STILL GET THINGS WRONG? “There are lots of reasons that you like and don’t like music. There are cultural things, and your own personal experience. We don’t capture it al all.

We don’t always y get it right, and that’s why we giv give you the thumbs.”

46:40 SILENCE 46:54 HER MAJESTY

I’m going to make her mine “Just take the music, the goodness, because it’s the very best, and it’s the part I give most willingly,” George Harrison said.

To the Beatles, music was everything.

For the rest of us, it is joy.

47:23

W W W. I D S N E W S . CO M / I N S I D E

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